2025 in Review: Hickenlooper Defends Colorado Against Trump Chaos

WASHINGTON - It's been a hell of a year, Colorado. Here are just a few of the ways Senator Hickenlooper fought this administration's chaos and stood up for Coloradans in 2025.

DEFENDING SCIENCE

Last week, Senator Hickenlooper blocked a federal appropriations package in the Senate after President Trump announced his plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder and cancel millions intransportation grants designated for Colorado. Hickenlooper demanded Republicans add an amendment to the package guaranteeing that all funding for NCAR be fully spent.

After blocking the bill on the Senate floor, Hickenlooper joined protesters outside of NCAR in Boulder on Saturday to raise public pressure against cuts to critical environmental research.

PROTECTING PUBLIC LANDS

Hickenlooper also led the fight against Senator Mike Lee's proposal to force the BLM to sell up to 1.2 million acres of public lands in Colorado and 10 other Western states. Hickenlooper first sounded the alarm in April, when he voted against the Republican budget resolution and introduced an amendment to protect public lands from being sold to pay for Republicans' tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.

In May, Hickenlooper held a press conference in Estes Park with Congressman Neguse, public lands advocates, and local elected officials to call out the Trump administration's threats to Colorado's national parks and public lands, including Rocky Mountain National Park.

The public pressure campaign worked. Following mounting opposition from Western senators and their constituents, Senator Lee stripped the public lands sale provision from the bill in June.

PROTECTING HEALTH CARE

Since the beginning of the year, Hickenlooper has railed against Republicans' manufactured health care crisis and worked closely with state leaders to protect Coloradans' care.

In July, congressional Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, cutting more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to pay for huge tax cuts for the richest Americans and largest corporations. 15 million Americans - including 241,000 Coloradans - are expected to lose their health care because of Republicans' cuts.

Hickenlooper helped mount a political pressure campaign to fight for Americans' health care. He was one of the first senators to announce he'd oppose the Republican government funding bill unless Republicans worked with Democrats to lower health care costs. Hickenlooper voted against Republicans' funding bill every time it came to the Senate floor.

During the 43-day government shutdown, Hickenlooper organized a press conference with Coloradans facing steep premium increases and cuts to their Medicaid in 2026 to pressure Colorado Republicans and the administration to fix skyrocketing health care costs.

Recently, in a last-ditch effort to save Americans' health care, Hickenlooper and Senate Democrats proposed a simple extension of the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits for three years, without any changes, to save more than 24 million Americans from paying double for their health costs or losing their insurance entirely. Republicans rejected the proposal.

FIGHTING ICE OBSTRUCTION

Throughout the year, Senator Hickenlooper and his office have worked to help families desperately searching for loved ones arrested by ICE, and to advocate for those in detention.

In August, Hickenlooper visited the ICE detention center in Aurora after ICE repeatedly stonewalled his office's calls and emails. During the visit, he raised concerns with ICE officials regarding delayed communication with congressional offices, irregular process changes, reports of ICE pressuring detainees to voluntarily depart instead of proceeding through a judicial process, and facility conditions. ICE failed to give satisfactory answers.

In August, Senator Hickenlooper's office led the effort to get a mother and her 7-year-old son from Chaffee County released from the family detention center in Dilley, Texas. The mother had no criminal record and an active asylum claim - she and her son were held for two months before their release.

In November, Hickenlooper called for the immediate release of a Durango father and his two young children after ICE arrested them while they were on their way to school. Following ICE's failure to release the family, Senator Hickenlooper spoke directly with DHS Secretary Noem, demanding ICE release them from custody after they reported being physically abused while in ICE detention. Despite having active asylum claims and no criminal record, DHS refused.

In response, Hickenlooper and Senator Jon Ossoff opened an inquiry into ICE's unlawful obstruction of congressional oversight. Just last week, a federal judge blocked a Trump administration policy requiring members of Congress to give prior notice before visiting ICE facilities. On Saturday, Hickenlooper performed a congressional oversight visit to ensure ICE was following the law and to push for two young detainees to be released.

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